Ross 2011 Annual Report Download - page 58

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Board of Directors and Stockholders
Ross Stores, Inc.
Pleasanton, California
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Ross Stores, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of
January 28, 2012 and January 29, 2011, and the related consolidated statements of earnings, stockholders’ equity, and cash
flows for each of the three years in the period ended January 28, 2012. We also have audited the Company’s internal control over
financial reporting as of January 28, 2012, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by
the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The Company’s management is responsible for these
consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the
effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal
Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and an opinion on the
Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United
States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial
statements are free of material misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained
in all material respects. Our audits of the financial statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the
amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made
by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting
included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists,
and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also
included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide
a reasonable basis for our opinions.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the company’s
principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by the company’s board
of directors, management, and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting
and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance
of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company;
(2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in
accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made
only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance
regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have
a material effect on the financial statements.